No terms even mentioned, but . . .
>>JOMED N.V. (SWX: JOM) the leading European developer and marketer of products for minimally invasive vascular intervention and OXiGENE, (Nasdaq: OXGN, SSE: OXGN), the vascular targeting company, today announced their collaboration to research restenosis inhibitors, integrating JOMED's stent technology with OXiGENE's platform of vascular targeting agents.
Under the arrangement, JOMED is performing proof-of-concept studies with OXiGENE's vascular targeting agents (VTAs) on drug-eluting stents. These experiments will be designed to assess the efficacy and safety of the VTAs in preventing restenosis, a renarrowing of a coronary artery. Restenosis occurs in approximately 20-30% of the patients who undergo balloon angioplasty to widen a coronary artery. It can also occur after heart bypass surgery. Stents, which are wire mesh tubes, are used to keep open an artery that has been opened through a procedure such as angioplasty. With an active drug substance applied to the stent, researchers estimate that the in-stent restenosis is going to be both significantly less and delayed, reducing the need for repeated interventions.
``Our initial work identified several very promising development paths in this fast developing and potentially fast-growing field that we intend to pursue aggressively,'' said Tor Peters, President & CEO of JOMED. ``Initial results from our preliminary work with OXiGENE's VTAs are very promising. In cell culture studies, we have seen a very strong inhibition of smooth muscle proliferation, which was even superior to traditional anti-tumor compounds. We expect to be able to release data from animal trials during early 2002. Being one of the pioneers in the area of drug coated stents - launching the world's first heparin coated stent in 1996 - JOMED has a strong commitment to a continued development and leading role in this field.''
Bjorn Nordenvall, OXiGENE's CEO, said, ``Our alliance with JOMED underscores our continued effort to expand OXiGENE's industry-leading vascular targeting platform into growth markets. In addition to what we believe are promising results using our vascular targeting technology platform as a therapy for solid tumor cancers, we anticipate that other potential applications of VTAs include their use as a therapy in treating certain forms of ocular disease, as well as in the global market for stents.'' <<
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Cheers, Tuck |
